Just Starting. Want To Make Hiphops Beats,, Wont need to record instruments etc.. Options

[Mumbles]

Hey all

Just got a new G5 and want to start making some hiphop beats etc. I wont need to record any live instruments into my mac hopefully i can do it through "virtual instruemnts" (is that right? lol) what software etc would i need? ive got garageband installed and wondered what it was like,

Im running Tiger and wondered what u guys recommended, im guessing if i dont know anything about music then cubase etc is gonna be really complicated?

Im thinking i will just need a main software app and then if i want i can purchase add some additional instruments/samples/beats etc into it. is that correct?

Also any sites that can help me understand how to make music etc, i DJ so i know about bars and beats etc. but am a complete newbie when it comes to more than that (i bet u love us neebies lol)

Just stumbled accross this forum and tihnk its great! cheers in advance for the help

Mumbles

ps. on another note the mac will end up goung through my stereo but i do need to buy some relativly good mac speaks to see me through, what would you recomment? £100ish tops

This post has been edited by Mumbles: Tue 26 Jul 2005, 10:35

[ourmanflinty]

Garageband will be a great place to start. You're right about virtual instruments and it has them and you can buy more at the Apple store or online. some sort of keyboard might be useful to you, so you can paly in patterns.
speakers, an iSub and the harmon/kardon iSticks come in at £150 brand new, less off ebay and they really work

[Mumbles]

Thanks mate, yeah i agree a keyboard would be a good plan, what sort of price are we look at, for a basic on, and guess i would need a new card for my G5, as its not gonna be USB is it?

Thanks

Mumbles

[azza]

Get yourself iDrum from Glaresoft. It's got heaps of pre-programmed beats (you can program your own as well) and costs only 50 bucks. Highly recommended!
ARM

[Jsegura]

Guru of FXPansion is really good.

[mortalengines]

Garageband is a cool place to start because you already have it. A neat trick to do is come up with a nifty bass or melody line with another instrument, & audition a drum loop you really like, & then use a step pattern type drum machine program (like Reason's Redrum or NI's Battery) to "mimic" that pattern. They never come out the same as the loop that your're copying & stand alone as a more "original" piece of work. Another cool trick with Reason is using DR Rex loops & sending them to reasons sequencer (which automatically assigns a midi note to each "hit" or "event") & moving them around a bit to get variation or turning them into a completely different loops via the "randomize" or "alter" functions from the drop down edit window. I guess that what I'm saying is: BUY REASON! It totally kicks ass & will keep you busy for months to come.

This post has been edited by mortalengines: Fri 5 Aug 2005, 02:22